This invention relates in general to holders for drinking vessels and similar vessels and more particularly to an adapter for supporting a drinking vessel in a traditional cup holder.
Many automobiles of recent manufacture come equipped with drinking cup holders. These devices may amount to nothing more than a socket in the back side of the glove compartment door--a socket which opens upwardly when the door is in its fully open position--or perhaps a socket which opens upwardly from some other surface in the passenger compartment. Some cup holders of more sophisticated design are embodied in a thin drawer-like slide which moves into and out of the dashboard. When the drawer is retracted its front face lies flush with the exposed surface of the dashboard, rendering the drawer barely visible. On the other hand, when the drawer is pulled outwardly to its extended position, it presents two apertures, the diameters of which are slightly larger than the typical 10 or 12 oz. beverage cup. The drawer-type holder carries a bar which swings downwardly as the drawer extends and lies directly beneath the apertures when the drawer reaches its fully extended position. In this position, the bar serves as a supporting surface for cups that are placed in the apertures.
While drinking cups come in a variety of shapes and sizes, the typical automotive cup holder will accommodate cups of generally only one size or shape--usually the 10 to 12 oz. cup with a slightly tapered side wall and no handle, the type of cup one would expect to obtain from a fast food restaurant. But larger and more substantial drinking vessels have come into widespread use--vessels having handles and otherwise resembling tankards. Even if these vessels were small enough to fit into the typical cup holder, which they normally do not, the handle would interfere with the cup holder and cause the vessel to tilt.
The present invention resides in a cup holder which will accommodate large drinking vessels--drinking vessels having greater capacity than the typical 10 oz. or 12 oz. beverage cup. It will also accommodate vessels having handles. The invention, in addition, resides in a holder which functions as an adaptor to enable the typical small holder to support drinking vessels of larger capacity with considerable stability.